Press trips and their rigid itineraries are the antithesis of spontaneity, which is why I generally dislike them, among other reasons. Impromptu, off-the-cuff art tours, though, are often a delight. I was fortunate enough be given one when I bumped into Chloe Stead, Sotheby’s global head of private sale, Old Masters, on Monday at the house’s Paris HQ. I had hopped over the Channel from London to talk wildcats and fractionaliizing Dutch masterpieces with billionaire philanthropist Thomas S. Kaplan, owner of the world’s largest collection of Rembrandts (more on that soon). Stead was in Paris to help Sotheby’s sell Manny Davidson’s collection this Wednesday and Thursday. Together with the online sale, which closes on Friday, there are almost 500 lots. Rediscovered Old Masters, 19th century British paintings, 18th-century gold enamel, an automaton clock by the celebrated James Cox, and other bits and bobs will hit the auction block.
The last time Stead gave me a shotgun tour (she has form) was at Sotheby’s London in March. We temporarily absconded from the modern and contemporary evening sale in March to look at Thomas A. Saunders III’s old masters collection in the adjoining gallery. I had an epiphany when she showed me a 15th-century still-life by Luis Melendez; it featured an exquisitely rendered, glowing cauliflower painted using single-haired brushes. That knobby vegetable may have hypnotized me because it is seared onto my consciousness, and I now can’t help but compare it to every painting I see. Nothing stands up to its form, detail, and spellbinding beauty. It therefore goes without saying that Monday’s tour was secondary, but Stead did point out some lovely works that are sure to fetch a pretty penny at auction.
Sotheby’s will hope that Michael Sweerts’ A young man wearing a turban holding an upturned roemer: the fingernail test (1648-1652) carries the momentum of his rediscovered still-life that sold for over $16 million at Christie’s in 2023. The bartender is squeezed into the gilt frame. “I love this painting because the size is so surprising, and the crop—he really takes up the whole picture,” Stead said. “It feels like you’re glimpsing through a window.” The estimate on the label read €800,000 to €1.2 million. Stead told me that in the catalog, the estimate of the guaranteed lot is actually lower because “French law dictates that, unlike in the UK, you can’t have a guarantee above the low estimate, so you have to change the estimate accordingly.”
Portrait of a silversmith, probably Christiaen van Vianen (1600–1667) by Thomas de Keyser was hung next to it. “It’s a very chic picture,” Stead said. Its estimate: €400,000 to €600,000.
In the work, Van Vianen is holding a silver salt cellar in his right hand. Displayed in a cabinet to the right of the painting was an almost identical silver salt cellar made around 1600, probably by Gabriel van den Velden. A nice touch, and yours for €30,000 to €50,000.
Davidson was a wealthy property magnate. Sotheby’s described him as “a man whose insatiable curiosity and generosity left a lasting impression on the worlds of art, philanthropy, and connoisseurship.” The sale is titled “The Manny Davidson Collection: A Life in Treasures and Benevolence.” “Whether acquiring a rare Apostle spoon from the reign of Henry VIII, Chippendale dining chairs, or a whimsical Daum vase, Manny Davidson was guided not by fashion, but by a profound appreciation for craftsmanship, history and beauty,” the house said.
Anyone who follows the news might remember the late Davidson making the headlines back in 2017, when he and his wife tried to sue their children over £17 million of jewels, antiques and artwork at the family’s stately home. (The parents lost).
Stead had time to show me one final work, which was Joshua Reynolds’ Self-Portrait in doctoral robes (circa 1770). It’s a preparatory study for the famous self-portrait he presented to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1780. (Reynolds was the first president of the RA.) She introduced me to Julian Gascoigne, Sotheby’s senior specialist for British paintings, who was also in Paris for the sale. “There are very few of Reynolds’ self-portraits left in private hands that are as good as this one, and what makes this picture interesting is that it was a complete discovery in the 90s when it turned up at Phillips,” he said. “It subsequently ended up on the front cover of a catalog for a Reynolds exhibition in Plymouth, where they brought together all the known Reynolds sub-portraits, or at least as many as they could get their hands on. Essentially, this one it’s Reynolds trying out and testing all of his ideas for what was his diploma portrait, which he bequeathed to the Royal Academy.”
It was no cauliflower, but certainly an impressive painting. Estimate: €300,000 to €500,000.
“The Manny Davidson Collection: A Life in Treasures and Benevolence” evening sale kicks off on Wednesday at 16:00 CET time at Sotheby’s Paris.
